Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Bigger, busier and longer, the third and (we hope) final chapter of the swashbuckling Disney adventure franchise based on a theme park ride becomes almost abstract by the final leg in the trilogy. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is hallucinating in Davy Jones' Locker, former zombie pirate Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is alive and well and leading the party to rescue Jack (for reasons that are vague at best), and young lovers Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann (Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley) sail off the edge of the world and return to lead the fight against the empire-building British. There are so many details crammed into the plot that it's easy to lose track, not that it ultimately matters. This is big-screen spectacle splashed with wildly fantastic images and epic action showdowns. Gore Verbinski directs with such stylistic momentum that you just take the narrative progression on faith, even as the large-scale imagery collapses into colorful noise on the video screen. Luckily, Depp is on hand to stagger and strut through the film, the oblivious life of the party and the only character who doesn't take any of this pumped up prattle seriously. Chow Yun-Fat looks great and does little as a Chinese pirate king, Naomie Harris goes all attack of the 50-foot voodoo priestess, and Keith Richards makes a cameo as the keeper of pirate lore.

All releases come with the obligatory blooper reel. The "2-Disc Limited Edition" has the more interesting supplements. The 20-minute "Anatomy of a Scene: The Maelstrom" reveals the scope of the ship sets and the huge shooting stage created for the ship-to-ship battle between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman. "Masters of Design" is a collection of featurettes with five key designers on elements of the film, from the magic map to the Singapore set. The 10-minute "The Pirate Maestro: The Music of Hans Zimmer" discusses the score, and "Hoist the Colors" is the story behind the opening song of the film. Brief featurettes focus on "Keith and the Captain" (Richards and Depp), "A Tale of Many Jacks," and "The World of Chow Yun-Fat"; and "Inside the Brethren Court" is an interactive guide to the pirate kings. Also available in Blu-ray format.